Sunday, June 8, 2008

ESPN's leadup to the Germany-Poland match is bound to have many WWII references. It's easy. I've done it and everybody else will as well. Plus, I don't think either country will forget. The fans have already caused trouble, clashing last night with 7 arrested in Klagenfurt, Austria as the opposing fans got a bit rowdy.

As ESPN's Andy Gray, astutely pointed out, there really isn't much of a football rivalry between the two countries. Germany is better and manages to steal Poland's best players (see Klose, Miroslav; Podolski, Lucas). That said, Poland is bound to put up a good fight.

Full Time Podolski proves too much for Poland as the only German Forward who can put the ball on frame. Klose and Gomez had their chances as well, but could not shoot. Lehmann, who had his gaffes, kept everything in front of him today.

60.00 I was right about someone going after Podolski. Lewandowski takes a yellow card for the effort

51.00 Going to be less active this half--family obligations and what not.

46.00 Second half starts.

Half-Time Germany are deservedly in the lead, and should have at least one more in their total. Poland looked much better over the last ten minutes, pushing the Germans back into their own half. Lehmann looks so very rusty, and Boruc has yet to screw anything up. Hopefully, there will be a lively second half to look forward to.

45 +1 Podolski takes a hard foul, runs at the defender to yell at him, gets told by the ref to quit it, walks away, and falls down. Tosser.

45.00 1 minute of added time to came.

43.00 Poland are playing with possession right now, but are not pressing the German back line.

41.00 Trooper, you can come back. I was just kidding.

39.00 Yellow Card Smolarek receives a scare after the ref initially takes out the red card for him. Hard foul on Mertesacker the reason.

37.00 Beenhakker looks like he's right out of Poltergeist. Oh, and Germany miss another good chance by not putting the ball on frame.

35.00 Poland are brightening up and starting to play. Zurawski had an open shot from 15 after Lobodzinski squirmed free on the right, but he duffed it.

33.00 Game really being played in midfield for the last few minutes.

30.00 Germany are choking off the game in the back, content with the game as it stands.

28.00 Decent attempt form the right for Poland. Lobodzinski's shot smothered by Lehmann.

26.00 Germany stream forward, and Fritz's cross gets tipped out for a corner. Podolski takes the corner and kicks to no one.

24.00 Yes, PR, me too.

23.00 Thanks to Trooper for doing my job in the comments.

20.00 GOAL As I was writing that the game had slowed, Germany does a mirror image of Gomez's miss. Klose gets in behind again, and passes to Podolski for the easy tap-in. 1-0 Germany

14.00 Lehmann really looks out of it, doesn't he?

13.00 Yes, Germany's looking pretty strong. I'm surprised there haven't been more hard fouls from Poland. The Poles look rather meek out there.

10.00 Podolski dives, looking for a free kick right outside the box. Why wasn't his head in that photo?

09.00 Polish cross not met correctly in front of the net. Good chance goes begging.

08.00 Poland are playing a really high line, and Germany are attacking it with both Forwards and Midfielders looking for long balls through. That does not bode well for the Poles.

06.00 Gomez was offside the whole time. The question is whether the ref would have called it.

04.00 Mario Gomez misses an open net on a pass from Klose. Poland's defense was nowhere to be found.

03.00 Poland look bright early, but Germany's defense isn't allowing any breakthroughs. And then a couple of hard Polish fouls on Germany.

1.00 Krzynowek just went over from 18 after Jens spilled the ball. Really trying to make Wenger miss him, huh?

Kick-off 4-5-1 for the Poles. Not much chance that they are really trying to outscore Germany tonight.

Kick-off Croatia did not look that good today, did they? England fans have to feel even worse after that display. Oh, and to The Fan's Attic, that is my favorite German picture ever. Thank you.

-05.00 ü75 here, UF's resident Polack to guide you through this game for as long as I can hold out. Being at the beach will put a crimp in how long I can go, but until then, here I am.